Colors (Crankiplier)
by NateCrossing
Summary: Our main character, Ethan Nestor, lives under a dictatorship. And a very strict one at that. Each and every citizen has a very limited set of rights. And so, it's normal that they are very attached to them. One of those rights concerns one's hair color. It goes this way : "You cannot discriminate one based on one's hair color as long as it is the color that they were born with."
1. Chapter 1 :

I took off my hoodie, proudly showing off my bright blue hair. Music blew through my earphones, unwillingly sharing something about me with other people - which I hated. But I wasn't about to turn it down, not for them, not for any one of them.

I walked down the corridor, ignoring the looks.

Who were they to look at me? Little good for nothing norm conforming kids.

Today was Friday and I had P.E. first period, which I hated.

I slammed my bag into my locker and grabbed my clothes before walking to the gym.

"Brown hair on the left and blond hair on the right." Yelled the P.E. teacher. I stayed in the middle, hands in my pockets, and chewing-gum in my mouth. "You! Pick a side!" He was still yelling.

"I don't have brown nor blond hair, sir. Mine's blue." I said, my words laced with sarcasm.

The teacher was fuming.

"Well, do you have brown or yellow eyes?" I smirked. "I can't really tell, sir. Depends on the light I guess."

The teacher was visibly shaking.

But, thankfully, he couldn't do anything to me.

"Stand on the left young man." I slowly started walking to the left, but not before talking once more. "Not a boy, sir. Not a girl either." But the teacher ignored me.

Was my blue hair not enough for him to understand that I was neither a boy nor a girl?

I looked at the brown haired around me and sighed.

Still not a boy.

Friday passed by quickly and so did Saturday and Sunday.

I had only fought someone once because they had tripped me- bad idea.

Monday wasn't my worst day, but it wasn't the best.

I arrived early in Maths class and sat next to the window, completely ignoring the teacher that hated me because of my hair. Which she wasn't supposed to do since it's written in the law that you have to respect everyone even if their hair isn't brown or blond.

Although this rule only applies if you were born with your current hair color. Which wasn't my case, but they didn't need to know that.

The bell rung which made me take out my second earbud and put everything in my bag. I had to be extremely cautious so that they didn't have anything against me. Everyone knew and wanted me out of their lives.

"Not another one!" I perked up at that and stared in awe at the red-haired person at the front of the class. "Hi, Miss. I'm the new student, Mark Fischbach."

"What's your gender, boy." How fucking dumb could you get? Asking one's gender before immediately assuming it.

"Uhm... Sorry, but I don't have to answer that." I almost out right laughed at her face. It was priceless.

"Sit next to Ethan, the blue-haired boy." "Still not a boy, Miss." She rolled her eyes.

I looked back at Mark who had finally noticed me. I smirked at him and he blushed.

He slid into the seat next to me and shyly smiled at me.

"Hey..." He whispered and I felt my heart beat just a tiny bit faster.

"Hey."

A/N :

So, new story, once again. If you think that this story is your boring everyday high schoolfanfiction then stick around a bit, you'll have a pleasant surprise ;)


	2. Chapter 2 :

I took a bite of my sandwich and tapped my foot to the beat of my music.

"Hey." I quickly turned around, ready to fight whoever was daring to speak to me only to immediately soften my gaze as I stared at Mark. I paused my music and smiled at him.

"Hey. How you doin' red hair?" Mark chuckled and my heart stopped.

His chuckle was the best thing ever. I wanted to hear it more.

"I'm good, blue hair. Can I sit with you? I don't exactly want to associate with the brown or blond hair." I smirked at him. "Cheers to that." I shuffled away, leaving him some space to sit on.

He started eating just like me and we stayed silent for a bit.

"Were you born with this color or did you dye your hair?"

Mark didn't look at me.

He looked extremely uncomfortable.

So I continued.

"Personally, I dye mine. But don't be mistaken, I wasn't born with blue hair but I completely identify with them. I'm no boy is what I'm trying to say. I'm non binary." Mark turned to look at me, shocked that I had shared such private information with him. I smiled at him before going back to my sandwich.

"I dye it." I nodded at him, a smile playing at the corner of my mouth.

"Why red?" I asked slowly, trying to make him understand that he didn't have to answer if he didn't want to.

"Why blue?" Mark said immediately and I clicked my tongue.

"Touché, red. I guess it's the color that best represents me. It's the color of both the sky and the sea. And both are free. I like it." I said, looking at him with a smile.

"You're cute." He said, catching me off guard and making me blush.

Fuck.

I looked back at my sandwich.

"You have brown eyes so I'm guessing you like brown hair?" Mark chuckled. Again.

"Do you really believe in that bullshit?" I chuckled too, shaking my head while taking a bite of my sandwich.

"I don't know what I like exactly. Not girls, that's for sure." I nodded.

"And you?"

"Same as yourself. I like colored hair I guess. Makes me feel safe." I didn't look at Mark while saying that.

The bell rang before he could reply. I put everything in my bag and got up "Talk to you later, red." Mark got up and smiled at me.

"Yeah, I hope so."


	3. Chapter 3 :

I put two drops of the solution into the bottle and smiled as the content changed to a silver color.

There.

A developer.

Now I just needed to make the dye.

Mark was watching me in the corner of the room, staring in awe at everything that I did.

"How much did you pay for all of this?" Mark asked slowly.

"For the equipment about 10$ and for the chemicals about 50." Mark looked shocked.

"I know, it's a bit expensive but I-" "I pay 150$ for my dye." I almost chocked at that.

"You're being ripped off. With 50$ worth of chemicals I can make three separate dyes. If you want I can make you your red dye if you give me like 20$." I thought for a bit. "15$. You're a friend. And you're cute."

"Ethan. I can't accept that." I smiled at him.

"Kiss me and I'll make that 10." Mark blushed an I felt proud of myself. Making Mark blush wasn't an easy task, but I seemed to be getting the hang of it.

"I'll take 15." Mark mumbled and I shrugged. I still looked his way to make sure that I wasn't making him uncomfortable. And I honestly couldn't tell.

"Am I being too much?" I asked slowly, not looking at him.

"Huh?"

"Am I making you uncomfortable is what I'm asking ya'." Mark chuckled and I shivered a bit. I turned around to look at him and my breath got stuck in my throat.

Mark had walked to me and was now right in front of me and on top of that smirking at me.

Mark bent over a little and gave me a soft kiss on the cheek. "You'll never be too much, Ethan." I shivered as he whispered this right in my ear with his low and sultry voice.

He then walked back to the corner of the room, leaving me flustered and a tad horny.

Fuck.

I applied the last bit of dye onto Mark's hair.

I wasn't blushing anymore, but Mark letting me touch his hair was such a sign of trust that I was really shocked still.

Touching someone's hair was like seeing them naked or them telling you their biggest secret. It felt good knowing that Mark trusted me.

"All done, Red. Soon you'll look as good as me." Mark chuckled. Once again.

"I don't think that's possible, dear Blue." I blushed even more.

Damn him.

I stopped for a second.

"Hey Mark? What're your pronouns?" Mark froze at that and avoided my eyes.

"S-Sorry for the sudden question, Mark. I just don't want to say something that'll make you feel bad. I don't want to know your gender or anything." Mark shyly smiled at me. "I know Ethan. You're not like that. I'm comfortable with he/him." I smiled at him.

"Thank you for telling me."

"I let you touch my hair, it'd be ridiculous to not let you know my pronouns." I smiled at him again.

I really wanted to kiss him.

But I would never do that.

"What are yours?"

"They/them. I prefer gender neutral stuff in general." I immediately said.

I really wasn't shy about this stuff.

Mark nodded.

"And if you we were to go out, what would you be in regards to me?" I blushed.

Damn him.

"Your significant other." Mark nodded.

"I'd be your boyfriend." I nodded, not asking questions about his gender.

I really wanted him to be my boyfriend.


	4. Chapter 4 :

"Hey Ethan? Can I ask you something?" I smiled at him and nodded, being unable to answer since my mouth was full.

"How did you know that you were non binary?" The question caught me off guard.

I swallowed and answered Mark.

"I knew I wasn't a girl. And I knew I wasn't a guy. I just didn't know what I was. And then I saw this article about this non binary person born with purple hair and I just knew. So I took chemistry classes and learned how to create bleach safe for one's hair and dyes." Mark was looking at me in awe.

"And how did you hide the fact that your hair was dyed?" I sighed.

"My parents didn't accept me so I moved and found a little job before buying my own apartment. I then applied to this school and here I am." Mark was nodding.

"I moved for the same reasons." I nodded at Mark.

"I think I might not have a gender Ethan." I smiled at him.

"Agender, then." Mark looked shocked at that.

"There's a name for it?" I nodded and he hugged me which surprised me a lot coming from him. I slowly hugged back.

He smelled nice.

And his hugs were perfect.

I never wanted to leave his arms.

Mark and I were watching TV while waiting for my blue dye to set when a news flash came on.

"Breaking News, dyed hair has just been voted illegal! Any citizen with dyed hair will be facing about two or three years of prison, will have their head shaved and will have to pay a fine. Any citizen born with colored hair will have to dye their hair either brown or blond immediately. Dyes are being distributed at every city hall while I'm speaking."

I didn't listen after that.

I just stared at Mark in shock.

"We can't let that happen." I said after a while.

Mark just looked at me.

"How?"

"That's simple, we fight." Mark shook his head. He looked defeated. "But... We can't."

"Yes we can."

Mark shook his head. "We can't go to prison for something as dumb as hair color, Ethan." I could stare at him in shock.

"Stupid?" I didn't know whether I should feel disappointed, angry or sad. Maybe a mix of all.

Mark was looking down.

"You can't be serious..."

Mark still didn't look up.

"Red?"

"My name's Mark." He said, looking at me in the eyes.

I wanted to say more, but Mark cut me to it by getting up and walking to the door.

"This is one of our only rights! Mark. They can't take it from us!" Mark didn't turn around but, instead, opened the door.

"If you go through that door then we're not friends anymore." Mark sighed. "I was going to get you a brown dye, but I guess you don't want it."

"I'm not a boy!" I yelled at him, not believing that he had just said that to me.

"Goodbye, Ethan." He started closing the door.

"I love you." Mark stopped in his tracks. He turned around, looking at me, emotionless.

I hadn't realized that I had started crying until he started looking at me.

Mark looked down.

"I'm sorry."

He closed the door.

A/N :

Now our story can start.


	5. Chapter 5 :

3 years later

I threw another grenade before yelling "Clear!" after it had blown up. The Chief started moving and I followed her.

"Ethan! Cover me!" I didn't answer but started throwing grenades left and right at all the enemies surrounding us.

We moved into their HQ, but no one was there.

"Chief." She turned he head to look at me and I shook my head. "Move back!" The Chief yelled and everyone got back.

I loaded one of my special grenades while putting on my gas mask.

I aimed it before launching it. It exploded on impact and the gas quickly covered the whole room. I waited a few minutes before moving around and checking the room for soldiers.

"Bingo." I whispered.

I walked back to the front of the room and opened the door which made the gas dissipate; just like it was meant to do. I took off my gas mask.

"Three soldiers inside and about 15 crates full of both ammo and guns." Everyone cheered at that.

This was our best salvage yet.

Creating this division wasn't an easy task. But Chief and I had done it nonetheless.

And since then we had been getting more and more new recruits.

Most of us had colored hair, some born this way, some not, but some of us had brown or blond hair.

Everyone had their own motives. Some had partners with colored hair that had been put in prison or even killed.

In the last three years we had done a lot of progress, but the government had been fighting back.

First of all, they had started by killing off the colored hair in prison unless they were willing to enroll into the army. And especially in the Anti Colored Hair division, or ACH for short.

This division was created a year and a half ago and has been making our lives a living hell.

The Chief pat me on the back before smiling at me.

"Good job Ethan. You surpassed yourself." I smiled at her, admiring her long purple hair.

Chief was born with them.

I, myself, was letting my roots show as a sign of protest against the government. It didn't later now whether I was born with blue hair or whether I was dyeing it. I still kept it blue, though.

And I was the one in charge of dyeing everyone's hair. It wasn't as intimate as it used to be since I was pretty much like a hairdresser now.

I had also used my chemistry skills to create bombs, grenades and everything chemical-related that could be used as a weapon to either harm, kill or knock out someone. Every gun and ammo we had had either been bought through contraband or stolen from the ACH.

"Thank you Chief."

I took off my gloves before washing all the blood off.

I was on guarding duty of our hostages which meant that I had to get information out of them. This was how we had gotten so far in so little time.

There was at least always one of them that was weaker than the rest and who was willing to talk after a bit of... 'guarding'.

I walked to the other part of the camp, where I was to color our Chief's partner's hair -which was a huge deal. I walked under the tent and greeted them.

"Here you are Ethan, I was starting to think that you would be late." I smiled at them.

"Not on my watch. I was just on guarding duty. So, pink still?" I said, effectively changing the subject since I knew that they didn't like talking about our hostages.

I saw them nod and so I put on my gloves, another kind of gloves, and grabbed the dye that I had pre-made.

"Ready?" They nodded once again and I started applying the dye on each strand of their hair.

"Did you get anything out of those soldiers?" They asked which surprised me considering it was them asking.

I shook my head.

"The two blond-haired ones are probably not going to talk, but the brown-haired one seems more likely to talk." They smiled at me.

"You know, I admire you Ethan. You've been here as long as theChief yet she's 51 and you're not even 25."

"I'll be 24 soon." I said slowly, not seeing the point that they were trying to make.

"Why are you interested in this cause? What's your drive? We all have one. And you know mine, I've told you before." I nodded, rememberingvery clearly the story about their mom being killed in front of their eyes because she was hiding a colored-haired child.

"My hair is everything to me." I said simply, not wanting to go too in dept about why I had started this.

"Yeah but there simply has to be something else. Was it a partner?" I froze completely. They seemed to feel that they had hit a nerve because they immediately closed their mouth.

"I never had a partner. Now, please, stop asking questions." I was still polite to them since they were the Chief's partner and also my friend, but the question really hadn't gone down well.

They seemed to feel it as they immediately changed the subject.

I hadn't told anyone about Mark and I intended on keeping it that way.

I sighed.

I didn't want to think about him.

Never and in no circumstance.

It had been three years and I had more important things to think about.


	6. Chapter 6 :

I wrote down the formula next to the sketch and sighed. I was finally done with this new smoke-bomb. It was designed to explode with a word command.

I still hadn't decided they keyword, but that wouldn't be a problem.

"Ethan! Are you ready?" I turned around, grenade in hand which made the Chief smirk.

"Get your gear ready, we're leaving.

"Ethan! Go forward! We'll cover you!" I immediately started moving.

The brown-haired soldier had talked in the end and we now knew where the leader of the ACH was hiding.

I moved forward and threw my new grenade into the building.

One had the keyword 'what' and the other had 'check'. Just in case they said 'What's that' or 'Go check'. Just as predicted, the both of them exploded at the same time.

I waited for a bit before opening the door and letting the gas trickle out of the room. I moved in with my gas mask on.

Five soldiers and two crates.

One of them must be the leader, another their right arm and the three others must be guards.

I got out, took off my gas mask and yelled "Clear!"

But no one heard me.

They were still fighting.

I took out my grenades. I hated using guns.

I threw one of the bombs to enemies on my left, killing them all as it exploded. I ran to the last soldiers fighting and threw two other grenades.

That's when I noticed her.

The Chief.

Lying on the ground in a pool of what I guessed was her own blood.

Her partner was on top of her, bawling their eyes out and screaming.

I was about to go help them when a bullet went through their head.

I staggered back.

I almost threw up right here and there.

I gulped.

Not the Chief.

I ran to both of their corpses and picked up the Chief's assault rifle before running head first towards the enemy. I quickly threw a grenade to my right while simultaneously shooting the soldiers on my left.

I hid myself behind barrels and put on my gas mask before throwing a sleeping gas grenade that didn't dissipate in the air immediately.

After about two seconds after the explosion, I left my hiding place and went on the field only to see that no one was left.

I had finished off the last of them.

I walked back to my soldiers that were all looking lost.

"Soldiers!" I yelled and they all looked at me.

I took off my gas mask.

"Our Chief was killed during the brawl as well as her partner. By delegation, I am the new Chief." Soldiers bowed their heads at me.

I didn't want that.

"Raise your heads, soldiers. No need for that." They looked at me.

"We've won this fight. Even if it cost us many prized lives." I closed my eyes.

"But we need to keep going nonetheless. Team Red, go check back there, there should be five sleeping soldiers with the leader and their right arm there. Team green, check left and collect what you can from those soldiers. Team blue, go right and do the same. Team pink and purple, collect our fallen friends' corpses. Let the Chief and her partner to me." Every team started moving and I sighed.

I was not made to be the Chief. But I had to.

I slowly walked to the Chief and her partner. I pushed the Chief's partner off of her and laid them next to her.

I closed my eyes and sighed.

I let a tear fall but quickly wiped it off.

Now wasn't the time for that.

But fuck did it hurt.


	7. Chapter 7 :

I put on my gloves.

The leader had been identified. Their right arm had been killed in the brawl.

And I was going to have a great time torturing that fucker. It would be my revenge.

I walked to the tent, materials in hand.

A soldier was waiting for me.

"He's awake Chief. He didn't tell us anything, not even his name." I nodded at him.

"Thank you. Wait here a bit just in case, please." The soldier nodded, his green hair getting in his eyes.

I walked under the tent and almost dropped my equipment.

"Mark?" He immediately looked up.

"How do you know my n- Ethan?" We looked at each other for a while before I snapped out of it. I put my material on the table next to me.

I walked to him and slapped him with all my might. He fell to the floor because of the blow, taking the chair he was tied to with him.

"I can't fucking believe you! Of course you would go and become those fuckers' leader! Of course!" I yelled at him before pulling his chair back up.

I studied his face.

He was looking down.

His hair was brown. It didn't suit him.

"Got nothing to say to me?" Mark didn't say anything.

I looked back at my material, but I knew that I didn't have it in me to torture him.

Even if he was the ACH leader, he was still Mark to me.

"How did you become leader of the ACH?" I asked plainly but he didn't move nor talk.

"You know, I'm leader too, Mark. And you're very lucky that I'm not torturing you right now." Mark still didn't move.

He had dirt on his cheek. I moved my hand to wipe it off, but he looked up before I could.

His eyes were filled with pure hatred. And it was all directed to me. He still wasn't talking.

I felt like crying.

I didn't recognize the person in front of me.

I couldn't do it.

I turned around and started walking away. He didn't stop me.

The soldier looked up as I walked out of the tent.

"Do you know someone willing to torture him?" I asked the soldier and his eyes widened.

"Wha- Yes... I do. But..." He didn't want to question me, but I knew that he didn't understand.

"The fucker in here is someone that I used to know. I can't do it myself, soldier." The soldier nodded and went off to find someone else to do the job.

I sighed.

Why did it have to be Mark?

I washed off the dye and started drying my hair with a towel. I would need to do more dye soon.

Maybe I should find an assistant.

I also needed to find a right arm, but no one seemed ready yet.

I sighed as I realized that I was the only one still alive from our original division. But I shouldn't dwell on the past.

I put my towel back into place and tried to style my hair a bit. My roots were still showing, although a bit less since I had redone them.

"Chief!" I spun around to look at the soldier that had burst into my tent. She looked shaken up.

"Hey, calm down, what's happened?" I asked slowly and the soldier took a deep breath.

"Sorry, Chief. It was just a bit hard to find you." I smiled at her.

"It's alright. So what brings you here?" The soldier straightened up a bit.

"Something is wrong with our hostage, sir." I frowned.

"I'm not a sir, soldier." The soldier blushed profusely and started stuttering out excuses.

"It's alright soldier. But please, try to remember that I am nonbinary." She nodded and left, looking mortified.

I tried to be nice to her since she had blond hair and probably didn't know better, but it still annoyed me.

Being misgendered wasn't something I was really used to in here considering how many non binary and gender non-conforming people were here.

I put on a tank top and walked to where Mark was kept.

I got into the tent and immediately noticed how beaten up Mark seemed. If I hadn't been used to torturing people, I probably would've thrown up at the sight.

The soldier straightened up as I walked in before saluting me.

"Report." I said simply, still somewhat staring at Mark.

It had been two weeks since we had captured Mark, and the soldier certainly had some things to say.

"The hostage wasn't willing to cooperate even after I put him through every single one of your concoctions. I even tried to get information out of him by hitting him and not giving him food, but he still wouldn't cooperate. So..." I had a bad feeling about where this was going. They didn't use that did they?

"So...?" I urged the soldier to go on. "So I used the green mixture you told me not to use." I sighed.

Called it.

"How much?" I asked and the soldier paled.

"All of it?" I widened my eyes at that.

I turned to look at Mark and suddenly noticed how far away from here he seemed to be.

"Pass me the blue liquid and a drop of the pink bottle on your left." The soldier acted quick and gathered everything that I had listed while I put on my gloves. I quickly mixed the two liquids together before adding a few drops of another mix that I kept on me at all times. I put my finger on the open-end of the container and mixed it quickly while walking to Mark.

"Restrain his arms." I said to the soldier who shot me a look before doing as told. I knew that he was restrained already. But ropes wouldn't suffice.

I tilted Mark's head back and opened his mouth. "I'm sorry buddy." I mumbled before pouring the liquid down his throat.

He immediately started trashing around and, despite both the soldier and the ropes holding him, he managed to free one of his arm and punch the soldier in the face.

But I couldn't help them; I needed to keep his head tilted back so that he didn't spit all of it out or threw up too fast.

The soldier managed to grab back his arm and restrain him.

The liquid must've been burning his throat since it was designed to kill every lasting bit of the green liquid that happened to be a sort of glue that you were supposed to make the subject throw up after a while.

Its purpose was to harden the content of your stomach and make it impossible for you to digest what you had eaten. But if what the soldier said was true, then Mark hadn't eaten in a while. And so it was probably his stomach that was hardening instead of its content.

I waited about a minute before pushing Mark's head forward and keeping it in place as he started throwing up. The liquid I had given him was made to dissolve the glue and so he was mostly throwing up blood, bile and chunky bits of what must've been in his stomach still.

After a while, Mark had had stopped. I briefly looked at the soldier who looked horrified.

"This is why you listen to my orders, Felix. Next time, if you come to do this again, just tell me if you can't get them to talk, ok? No need to go to such extreme measures. Plus, I would never be angry with you. Being on guarding duty isn't an easy task and we all know it." I looked back at the soldier and they were crying.

What?

"So you're not angry at me?" They asked, their voice cracking. "Of course I am, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to yell at you. Your job was hard and you did great." They started full on sobbing and I opened my arms to hug them. They immediately jumped in them to hug me, all the while still sobbing. I was rubbing their back.

"You'll be alright soldier. Now, go relax in your quarters, I'll handle our hostage." The soldier nodded at me and saluted me again. "Thank you Chief." I nodded at them and they left.

I looked back at Mark who was looking at the ground. I then looked at the mess in front of him and decided that I would clean it later, after I had taken care of Mark.

I walked behind him and started undoing the ropes holding his arms back.

"Aren't you afraid I'll escape?" Mark croaked out before having a coughing fit.

He had finally spoken to me.

But his words were holding such hatred that I couldn't bring myself to feel happy.

"We're going to get you cleaned up. You need a shower and to see the doctor." Mark huffed.

"Does that doctor have rainbow hair?" Mark asked sarcastically. I rolled my eyes.

Need I remind him that a little more than three years ago he had red hair? Whatever.

"She has blond hair, actually." Mark groaned.

I finished untying him and caught him since he was way too weak to hold himself up.

"Let me go." I didn't let go of him.

He would've fallen into the pool of his own vomit and that would've been good for none of us.

I helped him stand up and he groaned. His whole body probably hurt like hell.

"I can walk on my own." Mark said plainly. "You're limping." I replied with the same tone and Mark shut up.

This was going to be fun.


	8. Chapter 8 :

I walked into the tent and saw Mark roll his eyes.

The room had been cleaned since last time as had been Mark. He was still tied to the chair though, just in case. And he still hadn't talked.

It seemed like the only way of getting him to talk was to inject him the glue since it made the subject feel a bit high when injected.

But there was no way in hell that I was going to risk doing that to Mark again.

So I was stuck with talking to him.

We had started giving him water, but no food. We hoped that it would make him weak enough to talk.

Having him talk would be a relief. Both because we would have very valuable information, but also because I couldn't handle seeing him in such a bad state.

"How we doin' today?" I asked sarcastically while readying the material needed to wash him up.

"Do you have food." Mark said, barely above a whisper. "We do, but it's not for you. Not until you tell us everything that you know."

"That won't happen." Mark said plainly and I shrugged.

"Guess you'll starve then."

"Please give me food." Mark said as I entered the tent. His head was down and his hair - which had grown a bit since he arrived here- was hiding most of his face.

"Give us info and we'll give you food." Mark started crying.

He was done for.

"Please... Ethan..." I shivered as Mark whispered my name. I really hated seeing him like that.

"You only need to tell us everything that you know and then we can feed you." Mark didn't answer for a while. I thought he had passed out, but, after a few minutes, he spoke up. "Can I at least have some water?" I grabbed a glass and walked to him to make him drink it.

That's when he looked up at me with his bright brown eyes that were laced with tears.

"Please..." I sighed at his desperate tone. "If you tell us everything then yes, I'll give you food. I'll give you all the food you need." Mark closed his eyes and let his head fall down.

Was he really willing to die starving as to not tell us anything?

"Do you not want water anymore?" Mark didn't answer. He didn't even move.

I couldn't bear it.

I put the glass next to him and started walking away.

"I'll do it." Mark stopped me in my tracks.

I turned around.

Mark was looking at me. He looked desperate. As if he was begging me not to leave.

How fun.

It reminded me of a certain last moment that we shared about three years ago.

"I'll do it just... Please. Give me something to eat." I took a deep breath.

Through the course of Mark's torture I had remembered what it was like before all of this with Mark. And I couldn't help but fall in love with him all over again. And even though he had changed since, it was still hard seeing him like that.

But I couldn't let that show.

I needed to think as a group.

I was the leader of the rebellion for Christ's sake. I wasn't just 'Ethan' anymore.

"You'll have to tell us everything first." Mark's sobbing cut me off.

I hated it.

I wanted to hear his deep chuckle ring through my ears, not his sobs.

"I'll tell you everything. I swear it. I promise you, Ethan. Just... Please... Food. Give me anything edible." I stayed silent for a second. Mark's desperationshocking me.

"Soldier!" I yelled and a soldier immediately walked in.

"Soldier Felix, on report." I nodded at them. "Go fetch us some food, will you? The prisoner's willing to talk." The soldier smiled brightly and nodded eagerly. "Y-yes Chief!" They then bolted out of the tent.

I should feel glad. But...

Why was I feeling so shitty?

Mark finished his food and gulped down the rest of his water.

"Better?" I chirped in to tell him that I was here. Mark turned his head to look at me and he lost his smiled. This hurt me, but I didn't show it.

"You going to talk now?" I snapped, his gaze annoying me. Mark smirked at me and I paled.

No.

He'd better not fucking pull this shit on me.

Mark turned back towards his food and wiped his mouth with a napkin, taking his sweet, sweet time.

He finally got up and I immediately put my hand on my pocket grenade that I kept on me at all times. Soldiers were outside and if I put out this bomb -which would knock the both of us out- then they would be alerted immediately.

Mark smiled at me and I took a step back.

His smile was so bright.

He was beautiful.

I snapped out of it and regained my stance.

"You know Ethan, I've been doing a lot of thinking recently. And, originally, I was going to fuck you over by eating and then not telling you anything still. But..." Mark stopped for a while and I let him gather his thoughts.

"But... Being the leader of the ACH and all, I've seen a lot of shit. Especially the discrimination against the people and the hypocrisy of the higher ups. I've seen so many deaths. Of both colored and non-colored hair. I've had to do so many nasty things too and..." Mark stopped again here to wipe his tears before they fell. "And just seeing you was the last straw. I... I've been missing you ok?" Mark looked away at that.

I didn't believe him.

"All I want to say is that I want to join your group, Ethan. I want to help you. I want to fight to fight for you- no. For OUR cause. And I can help too! I was leader for fuck's sake, I know almost everything there is to know about our enemy!" Mark started rambling and I was fuming. "How do you expect me to believe any of this." I said harshly and Mark stopped talking.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times.

"I'll tell you everything."

"'Course you will! But I won't let you join my troops like that!" I was enraged.

How dare he act like nothing was wrong!

Chief and her partner died because of him!

Mark smiled at me and I wanted to tear it off his face. "I'll let you dye my hair red." I huffed.

He seemed so pleased with his answer.

"And what makes you think that I'll waste some dye on you?" Mark lost his smile. "Don't be like that Ethan. I'm trying, ok?" I didn't answer. "Blue...?" Mark said slowly which enraged even more.

I knew exactly what to say to him.

"My name's Ethan." I spat at him before leaving.

I told the soldier at the front of the tent what to do with him before leaving completely.

How dare he.

How dare fucking he.


	9. Chapter 9 :

"And that's about all I know." I nodded while reviewing everything that he'd said.

If what he said was true, then Mark had just given us the keys to our victory.

I looked up at Mark and he was already staring at me, almost as if he was expecting something from me.

"What." I snapped.

"Do you believe me now?" I rolled my eyes. "Of course not." Mark frowned.

"You can't expect me to believe you after you left me for three years after calling me a boy and then going on to become the fucking leader of the division that has made us lose so many soldiers -so many lives!- including our Chief's and her partner's that we lost while capturing you! And don't pull the 'I'm doing what I think is right' card on me. The government took so many rights from us already, they can't- no. We can't let them take our identities away from us!" I was yelling by the end.

And what was even more infuriating was that Mark was looking at me in awe. He didn't even look scared. Or angry. Or even guilty for God's sake!

He looked amazed.

"Do you not even have anything to say!" I snapped at him and Mark seemed to snap out of his thoughts.

He started walking to me and I got ready to fight him. But, to my surprise, he didn't fight me. He didn't even attack me.

He simply put his arms around me and hugged me.

At first, I couldn't move, being shocked by his antics.

But as soon as I recovered, I started struggling away from him.

"Ethan. Stop. Please..." His deep voice stopped me.

God I had missed this.

I put my arms around him and started crying. Just bawling my eyes out.

This was Mark.

My Mark.

I had missed this so much.

"I'm sorry Ethan. I'm sorry I left you. I'm sorry I called you a boy. I know you're not. And as for my place as the ACH's leader, I can't be sorry since I really had no choice, but I still am. And please, just listen to what happened to me since we last saw each other." I closed my eyes and continued sobbing on Mark's shoulder. Mark was rubbing my back.

His hugs really were the best.

I looked at Mark who was sitting in front of me.

"I'm listening." I told Mark, urging him on.

"Ok. So. Let me start from the beginning. After leaving you I dyed my hair back to its brown color and continued my studies for about a year. Then the government started killing colored-haired people. And since everyone at our old school knew that I had red hair before, they denounced me in some desperate attempt to get some money. And so the police came knocking at my door at night, trying to catch me in my sleep. I wasn't sleeping, however, since I've become insomniac ever since you left. And I obviously didn't have my red hair. But I wasn't able to prove that I was born with red hair so they took me in anyways. They really were just nitpicking. And so I ended up staying in prison for a little less than half a year. It was horrible there. They even shaved my head." Mark shivered a bit and I felt bad for him.

"They then created the ACH and I was given two possibilities. It was either being killed or joining their ranks. So I joined them. It might've been a coward move, but I just wanted out." I shook my head but Mark didn't see it. He was looking down.

"So I became a soldier of the ACH. One thing led to another and I had become the leader and was too deep in to leave. And I couldn't have anyway. They would've killed me on sight."

"Why did you struggle so much before telling us everything then." Mark looked up at me when I started speaking before looking down. "I guess all this ACH bullshit had gone to my head after all. I don't really know either." Mark shrugged.

This was his excuse?

"I believe you. And I understand that you didn't have a choice. But I don't understand what went through your mind that pushed you to endure so much torture for something that you didn't believe in and even hated if I understand correctly." Mark sighed.

"I thought I deserved it."

"What?"

"I thought I deserved to feel all this pain to pay for all the lives that I took. I was even disappointed when it wasn't you torturing me. I would've preferred it. I felt horrible seeing you again. I wanted to die. And I 100% understand your anger. I honestly don't know how you've been so nice to me considering everything." I ran a hand through my hair.

"I still have feelings for you." Mark looked up in shock. I avoided his eyes.

I didn't want to see what emotions laid behind them. Mark stayed silent for a while.

"You're crazy, blue." I looked up as he said the nickname that used to cause me so much pain. He was smiling at me. He also had tears falling down his face.

Why was he crying? He wiped his tears.

"Thank you Ethan. Thank you for listening to me. I hope that you'll forgive me one day." I nodded at him and smiled a bit.

Little did he know, I already had pretty much forgave him.


	10. Chapter 10 :

I finished the dye and wiped my forehead. I had just finished about fifty dyes since my stock was getting low. Thankfully, I had learned to make dyes that didn't require a developer to work -which was much quicker to make.

I also had made bleach since I would have to bleach Mark's hair before dyeing it.

Mark was looking at me. He was sitting on the couch with the soldier that had 'guarded' him, Felix, next to him.

Yesterday, I had talked to everyone, and especially the troop leaders and had told them all about Mark. Well, not all, but still enough so that they understood why I trusted him and to what extent and also why I was willing to give him a chance to join our troops.

Many were reluctant -and I could understand why- but I had told them to trust me. Thankfully, everyone knew me and knew that I always made good choices.

I had also told them that since he was the enemy's leader, he could help us gain back our rights more if he was right alongside us. And it had been the winning argument that tipped the board.

Everyone had been willing to try it out.

However, they had insisted that I take a soldier with me at all times. I had accepted since I knew that I couldn't fully trust my judgement.

Many had volunteered, but I'd chosen Felix since I knew him pretty well already.

Felix was one of the rare soldiers to have gray hair -natural ones at that- which was fascinating. Since there were only three gray-haired people in our group, they had been able to chose their division.

Felix was in the blue division, my old division.

I had decided to make him team leader since I couldn't be both the Chief and the blue team's leader. Our old Chief had done it, but I didn't feel ready to take on that many responsibilities at once.

I already had to choose a new team leader for the purple and pink team. It wasn't a very hard task since I knew my soldiers and knew who was the best to take this role. But it was still hard considering the emotional tole that came with it.

"Ethan?" Mark snapped me out of my thoughts. I blinked and noticed that Mark was right in front of me, snapping his fingers. Felix was right behind him, hand on his gun.

I smiled at Mark and he looked relieved. "Sorry. Are you ready to get your hair done?" Mark nodded and I smiled at him.

"Alright, sit in this chair then, please." Mark obeyed.

I glanced at Felix and they looked unsure of what to do.

"Go sit and have something to eat, Felix. You must be hungry." Felix blushed and nodded before listening to my advice and sitting down to grab a bite. I turned back to Mark who was listening to our exchange and who looked pretty angry.

"S'that your new partner?" Mark asked coldly and I raised a brow.

Jealous much?

"Felix? They're a friend and a great soldier. And no, they're not my partner. They actually have a partner, Cry." Mark blushed a bit and turned his head. "So, red still?" I asked him, changing the subject.

"Still?" Felix asked, quoting me. "I told you, I knew him from before. I used to dye his hair red." I said, while putting on my gloves and taking out the bleach that I had made a bit ago.

"Ready?" Mark nodded and I started working on his hair.

This was going to be fun.

I finished washing the rest of the dye that didn't take off of Mark's hair.

His hair wasn't nearly as damaged as it used to be 3.5 years ago since I now knew how to repair broken hair.

I grabbed the nearest red towel and started drying his hair. Those towels used to be white, and I used to not know that you actually have to wash the dye out with shampoo and not just water, but whatever.

I walked in front of Mark and bent down a bit to dry the hair in front of his eyes. I pulled the towel away, ready to walk back to behind Mark. However, Mark's eyes stopped me.

He was looking at me in awe.

He looked so beautiful.

I just wanted to kiss him.

It seemed that Mark had the same idea since he put his hand on my cheek and brought my head down to his level before kissing me.

The move shocked me at first, but then I realized what was happening and started kissing back.

It was slow at first, but it quickly got heated. Mark still had his hand on my cheek and it was about the only thing that hadn't changed about our position.

I was sat on Mark's lap, one hand running through his hair while the other one was holding his head.

Mark's hand went from my cheek to my hair and I moaned. I loved it.

I wanted him to touch my hair more.

I wanted him to grab it while roughly f- "Uhm." Someone cleared their throat which made Mark and I pull away.

I opened my eyes and stared at Mark's face which was redder than his hair.

He was breathing heavily just looked so s- "Uhm." The same person from before cleared their throat, although louder than before and I snapped out of it before looking at them.

Oh.

Yeah.

Right.

Felix.

I cleared my throat as well, blushing even more than I already was at Felix's gobsmacked expression.

"Uhm. You can leave us soldier. You can tell anyone asking to see me that I have some 'unattended business' to do." I said with a smirk which made Felix blush.

He quickly stormed outside which made Mark and I chuckle. I was still sitting on his lap and I could very well feel his erection against my thigh. I already knew that Mark had a dick since I had seen him change in the locker room. He however didn't know what I had in my pants. And I preferred it that way.

"So... I'm 'unattended business' now?" Mark said in his deep voice and I shivered a bit. Two could play that game.

I got close to Mark's ear and whispered "Yeah... And I don't know if you've heard, but I've gotta do you..." while slightly grinding my hips into his. Mark moaned at the contact.

"I'm okay with that." Mark said breathlessly.

I ran my hand through Mark's hair -that was still wet- before kissing him again. Mark reacted almost immediately by kissing me back. I licked his lips and he moaned as I slipped my tongue past his lips.

"Fuck Ethan..." Mark moaned which made me moan as well.

I wanted him.

I didn't want to think about war anymore.

I wanted to think about Mark.

"I want you Mark." I whispered, looking Mark in the eyes. Mark blushed.

I got up and grabbed Mark by his sleeve. I walked to my bed and pushed Mark on it. I took off my shirt and Mark blushed bright red.

"Fuck... You're beautiful..." It was my turn to blush.

I got on top of Mark and, as if suddenly realizing what was happening, I got scared.

Was I really willing to give my body up like that? I didn't even know if Mark loved me.

I couldn't do this.

"Ethan? Are you okay?" I looked at Mark, unable to talk.

A tear fell down my cheek which shocked Mark. "Ethan? We don't have to do this if you're not comfortable. Ethan? Talk to me, buddy." I started sobbing and Mark sat up before putting his arms around me. "Hey... Ethan... Don't cry... We don't have to have sex. We don't even have to kiss if that's not ok with you." That was reassuring.

"I don't know if I trust you..." I whispered. "Hell, I don't even know if I can trust you!" Mark hugged me tighter. "You can. You really can." Mark whispered back

"How do I know that?" Mark started stroking my hair.

I liked that.

No one had ever touched my hair.

I didn't want anyone but Mark to touch my hair.

And just like that I understood what Mark was telling me.

I already trusted him. And I could. Because all he was doing was touching my hair.

And he trusted me. He was ready to have sex with me. He let me dye his hair. He was hugging me right now.

I pulled away from his hug and looked at him. Mark took my hand and squeezed it. Dyed hair really did suit him better. I gently pressed my lips onto his. But only for a second. Mark smiled at me.

"Thank you Ethan -No. Thank you Blue." I smiled at him.


	11. Chapter 11 :

"Team Blue! Move back!" Felix yelled as he noticed me running in with my grenades.

I had lost sight of Mark in the brawl and, even though I trusted him, I still had that nagging feeling at the back of my head.

What if he had betrayed me?

Or worse, died?

I threw two gas grenades and moved in immediately. As the Chief I had had to take a gun with me. And even though I still hated them, they did come in very handy.

I killed four soldiers before they could do anything. They had gas masks on and I couldn't help but wonder who had survived one of our raids. Or maybe we had a snitch on the inside.

But that seemed unlikely.

I knew everyone. Personally.

I knew their motives, their drive, what they lost.

I shook my head.

Whatever. This gas wasn't to make them sleep anyway, it simply was to make them unable to see further than 5 meters in front of them. But I could see thanks to the gas mask I was wearing. I had made it.

I looked around myself and shot without a care. After all, this was only a raid for ammunition and guns, not to capture someone.

I walked out of the gas and assessed the situation. Nothing on my right. On my left, a few soldiers were left fighting. But the real problem was in front of me. It looked like hell on Earth.

I decided to help the few soldiers on my left before going to the front of the battle. I turned to my left and ran forward, before hiding behind a building. I peaked and counted. Four enemies and three soldiers. Four if I counted myself.

I aimed and took out the first one. Despite not liking guns, my aim had always been good. Great even.

I aimed at the second one and also took him out. My soldiers killed the third and fourth one and I ran to them.

"Everything good with you?" They all nodded, thanking me. "No need for that soldiers. Let's keep going, ok?" "Yes, Chief!" I smiled and moved forward with them.

The front truly was hell on Earth. I kept firing grenades left and right while also shooting.

It seemed never ending.

This base was supposed to be a small, dammit!

One of my soldier ran past me and I couldn't help but notice his red hair and think of Mark.

Had he really lied to me?

Had he betrayed me?

And to say that I was willing to have sex with him.

Speak of the devil, I noticed Mark while throwing one of my grenades. He was about 20 meters away from me.

He was killing enemies which was a relief.

Mark suddenly noticed me and I saw his facial expression change.

He was yelling, but I couldn't hear him over the sound of guns firing.

He aimed his gun at me and I jumped away. But it was too late.

I had been shot in the shoulder.

I looked at Mark and he was firing like crazy at something behind me.

Yes.

Kill that fucker.

I knew the bullet that got me in the shoulder came from behind me. Plus, I hadn't seen Mark fire.

Mark ran to me but I didn't want him to.

"Don't worry about me. Kill them." But he couldn't hear me.

I hadn't realized that I had fallen down, but once Mark started holding me up, I realized it very much considering the pain in my shoulder.

I felt myself blacking out, the only thing that I could focus on was Mark's face, covered in tears and still yelling, even though I couldn't hear him.

In fact, I couldn't hear anything.


	12. Chapter 12 :

I slowly opened my eyes.

Where was I?

I tried to sit up but a blaring pain in my shoulder kept me down. I winced.

What had happened?

I stared at my shoulder and cringed at the huge bandage wrapped around my chest and shoulder. I cringed even more as I remembered what had happened.

My eyes flew open.

Mark!

Where was Mark?

"Soldier!" I yelled and someone came in.

"Maria! What happened?" I asked her, eager to know where was Mark.

"Chief, you were unconscious for almost a week."

"Where's Mark?" The soldier looked puzzled. "Who?"

"Ex-leader of the ACH. Red hair." The soldier seemed to register who I was talking about.

Finally.

"Oh, the prisoner you mean? Don't worry, he's to be killed for having shot you. He should be dead any moment now." The soldier said while looking at the clock. She seemed to notice my infuriated expression because she kept going. "I'm sorry that it took so long, Chief! It's just that he wouldn't confess to having shot you and that he insisted on staying with you. And it was hard without you there. We had to find a new Chief -but just until you woke up, you're still the Chief!"

"When will Mark be killed!" I almost yelled and the soldier took a few steps back, startled by my tone. "I-I don't know, a few minutes or something..." Her words dawned on me. I needed to help Mark.

I sat up, ignoring my shoulder and the soldier entirely.

"I need to stop this execution. Mark didn't shoot me, he protected me for fuck's sake!"

Understanding crossed the soldier's face and she immediately went to me. "Let me help you. We need to hurry." I nodded at her.

Finally.

She helped me up and I winced.

Fuck. My shoulder hurt so much. So fucking much. But I needed to get to Mark.

I started walking and, thankfully, that didn't hurt my shoulder.

"Where is he?" I asked the soldier and she started leading. "To the public place. They're going to be killing him in front of everyone."

The closer we got to the place, the louder everything got.

Everyone was yelling. "Killer!" "Traitor!" "Go to hell!" These were just a few of the insults flying around.

I could only stare at the scene unfolding in front of me.

A podium had been set up for the 'occasion'. Everyone was assembled around it. They looked crazy. Like flesh-hunting animals. They wanted a death. And they wanted blood. Mark's blood.

I looked back at the stage and noticed Mark sitting on a box and yelling stuff that couldn't be heard over the commotion. He was crying, completely bawling his eyes.

Someone walked on the stage and I noticed that it was Andrew, the oldest team leader on camp. So it was him that had been chosen. He wasn't good. He only wanted blood. At all times.

He started talking, but no one was listening.

He was going to kill Mark. No fucking way.

"Enough." I said to myself.

"Enough!" I yelled and everyone shut up.

They all turned around and stared at me in shock. Especially Andrew.

He felt superior because he had brown and red hair. He only was team leader because he was a good soldier.

"Enough Andrew. Enough all of you." I started walking towards the podium and everyone moved away.

And in that moment I realized how much they all trusted me.

And it felt good knowing that my team and I were on the same level.

I climbed up the stage and winced a bit because of my shoulder. But I was too angry to care. Maybe later, back in my hospital bed, I'll regret it. But not now. Not right now.

"Ethan! Good to see you back on your feet!" I glared at him.

He paled.

"That's Chief to you, Andrew." He paled even more. You don't piss off the Chief or you're in big trouble. Everyone knew that. Andrew gulped.

"Mark's innocent." I said simply. "An enemy shot me and Mark took him down. He didn't shoot me. From what I heard he even insisted on staying with me while I was recovering, isn't that right?" Andrew nodded. He must be shitting his pants right now. Good.

I looked at Mark and he was still crying. He looked relieved if anything.

"And even if he had shot me," I began, whipping around to talk to Andrew, "why kill him?" I paused to let my words sink in. "He has so much information about our enemy that he's valuable. And we never kill anyone. Even our 'guarded' soldiers go back to the enemy. With dyed hair, yes, but not dead. We only kill at the front. Or we're no better than our enemy. And you, out of all people, as a team leader, should know that, Andrew." Andrew looked down. It must've felt weird being scolded by someone almost 30 years younger than you. But I was Chief, not him.

"Yes Chief." I nodded at him.

"Now go untie Mark, will you?" Andrew nodded and obeyed.

"And you all! You should be ashamed of yourselves!" I paused once again. "Since when do we kill people and on top of it all like it? What the absolute fuck?" Everyone looked ashamed of themselves. As they should. "This is not us. This is not our mentality. We resist. We don't kill senselessly. We are better than this. At least I hope we are. I'm starting to doubt you." I paused. "I'm terribly disappointed."

"You say this as if all of us agreed!" I tried to find who was speaking but couldn't in the mass of people.

"Who's speaking, I wanna hear you out!" The soldier marched up and I noticed it was Cry.

"I didn't agree with Andrew! But when I spoke up, he didn't listen! Pewds isn't with me right now and guess why? Because Andrew sent him to the infirmary!" I faced Andrew.

"What do you have to say for your defense?" I said shortly, beginning to understand why all of this was happening in the first place.

"He needs to die. Even just as an example. Imagine what that would do to the enemy?" Andrew said.

He sounded desperate.

"They already think he's dead. Plus what good would that do us to lose our main information source? Have you thought of that?" I paused again but didn't let Andrew speak up. "I think that you just wanted blood. Let it be Mark's or Felix's. And it's not the first time, soldier. In fact, I think that you shouldn't be a soldier, soldier, if you can't be peaceful at times." Andrew was as pale as a ghost. "You will be affected to the infirmary for a month to tend to Felix's as well as all of our soldier's injuries. I hope that you'll use this precious time to understand that soldier doesn't mean violence." Andrew looked down. "Leave now. And be glad I didn't threw you out."

"Yes, Chief. Thank you, Chief." Andrew left to the infirmary, and everyone moved away to let him through.

They all looked ashamed of him.

Once he was gone, I looked back at the crowd.

"Were you all against it?" Almost everyone nodded.

I nodded too.

"Alright. I'm sorry for having wrongly accused you."

"It's okay Chief!" "You didn't know!" "We forgive you!"

I smiled. "Let's all go back to work ok?"

"Yes, Chief!" Everyone said in unison.

I turned around and stared at Mark. He looked amazed again.

"What?" I said to him while smiling. Mark walked to me and hugged me tightly.

"I was so scared Ethan." I hugged him back. "I know."

"I thought I was going to die." "I know. But you didn't." Mark started sobbing.

"You're alright now. You're ok. You're alive and you're with me." Mark nodded. "I know."

A/N

How are you enjoying my story so far? Feel free to tell me in the comments! Also, if you have any questions it's ok to ask me in the comments! Same if you want to make assumptions on what will happen next!


	13. Chapter 13 :

"Mark?" Mark visibly snapped out of his thoughts and looked at me. "Huh?"

We had been going over the plan of our next raid and even though everything seemed perfect, I had a bad feeling about it.

"Do you want to go to bed?" Mark smiled at me. "Yeah, sorry I'm spacing out." I chuckled. "It's fine. I think we're good anyways." Mark nodded.

We both walked to our tent while yawning.

"Long day tomorrow, we need to sleep." I said while changing and Mark yawned. "Agreed..."

I took of my shirt and chuckled as Mark wrapped his arms around me, being careful not to touch my shoulder. He started leaving small kisses on my neck and I moaned.

"Weren't we supposed to sleep?" I said as I felt Mark's erection against my bum. Mark hummed but didn't stop.

"We can go to bed if you want, it's not a problem." I smiled at him.

"Sure..."

Mark cursed under his breath as he pushed me onto the bed. He quickly took off his shirt and I bit my lip.

Mark was so hot.

He joined me on the bed and immediately started kissing me. I kissed him back and ran a hand through his hair. I loved touching his hair all the time now that I could.

Mark moaned as he started grinding his hips against my leg. Mark left my lips and started kissing down my neck before kissing and sucking on my nipple. I moaned immediately.

Damn him.

Why had I told him that they were sensitive?

Mark went lower and hovered over my boxer. He looked up at me but I was unsure.

Did I really want to have sex with him?

No.

Not now at least.

I grabbed Mark's hand to stop him from taking down my boxer. I shook my head and Mark stopped.

He laid next to me and wrapped his arms around me. "Did I do something wrong?" Mark asked quietly and I turned towards him and kissed him. "You didn't. I just don't wanna." Mark nodded.

"Can I ask why?" I shrugged. "I don't really know why. I want to but I'm scared. Plus I'm scared you'll want to fuck me -which I don't want." Mark chuckled. "How are you so blunt?"

"It's late." I said, chuckling with him.

"But honestly, I don't want to fuck you like that. Right now I just want to suck you off. And overall I'd prefer to be fucked by you if we're being honest." I laughed a bit. "Now who's the one being blunt." Mark shook his head.

"That'd be nice." I said tiredly.

Mark started stroking my hair.

I yawned.

"I think I love you Mark." I said quietly and Mark brought me closer to him.

He was warm.

I felt myself falling asleep. "I think I love you too Ethan." I smiled into Mark's chest.

Cute.

I woke up cuddled into Mark's chest and smiled.

I looked up at his sleeping face. He looked so cute. I stared at his face and then down at his chest. I ran my hand over his abs and bit my lip. I looked down even more and noticed a bulge in Mark's pants.

I wanted him.

I started kissing down his neck and Mark stirred a bit.

"Ethan...?" He groggily said and I smiled. I continued kissing his neck before sucking on it slightly.

Mark moaned. I wanted him right now.

I got on top of Mark and kissed him. He kissed back immediately. I ran my hand through his hair and he moaned which made me roughly grab it.

Fuck. I started working on Mark's pants and unbuttoned them. I pulled away from our kiss and looked him in the eyes. I looked down at his unbuttoned pants, his boxers and, most importantly, the bulge under them. I looked back at Mark and he was biting his lip.

"Can I?" I asked quietly while putting my hands on his hips.

"Yeah..." Mark whispered and I quickly took off his pants.

I stared at Mark's boxers, unsure of what I wanted to do. I looked back at Mark and he was clearly waiting for me to do something. I grabbed the rim of his boxers and slowly pulled them down. His erection sprang free and I bit my lip at the sight of him.

I wanted to suck him off. And so I did.

I lowered myself until his dick was right in front of me. I gently grabbed the base of his dick and hesitantly gave the tip a lick. Mark cursed and I looked back up at him.

"You look so hot right now Ethan... Fuck..." This encouraged me to go deeper.

Literally.

I took Mark's tip into my mouth and started sucking on it. Mark tilted his head back as a deep moan escaped his throat. I put a bit more of him into my mouth but soon couldn't take it anymore. I pulled back a bit but kept twirling my tongue and basically licking everything that I could.

Maybe I should use my hand on the part that I can't reach with my mouth. I started moving my hand up and down his shaft, but it wasn't wet enough. I popped his dick out of my mouth and started licking his shaft.

I looked up at Mark and he was a moaning mess. I took his dick back into my mouth and bobbed my head up and down while jerking him off.

Mark's hand was over his mouth to try and muffle his moans -to no avail. His other hand was in my hair, not forcing me down, but simply tightly gripping my hair.

"Ethan... Fuck -I'm... I'm- Fuck!" Mark moaned as he came into my mouth.

I continued sucking him off while trying to swallow his cum. Which was pretty hard considering the position that we were in. His cum tasted pretty bad but I didn't really mind. Mark's face was worth it.

I popped his dick out of my mouth and licked my lips. Mark was panting.

I laid next to him and started playing with his hair. "You okay?" Mark nodded and giggled a bit.

"You kinda caught me off guard there, blue." I smiled at him and bit my lip.

"Did you like it?" I asked timidly. Mark smiled at me before kissing me. "Yes." I smiled at him.

"Do you want me to return the favor?" Mark asked and I frowned. Did I? I had just sucked him off, surely I could let him return the favor.

Mark must've noticed my uneasiness because he took my hand in his.

"Hey. Relax. You can say no if you want." I smiled at him.

"Sorry." Mark shook his head. "No need to apologize, blue." I scooted closer to Mark and hugged him. "Thank you Mark." This was my way of saying 'I love you' to him.

Mark smiled. "I love you Ethan."

Damn him. Making me blush.

I did the best I could to answer him which was kissing him. And he kissed back.

Everyone moved around slowly. No enemies were in sight which was more than unusual.

I had told everyone to keep their guards up.

I was at the front with the blue team since I was used to working with them.

The air was weird. As if someone was pressing down on your lungs.

I froze.

That's what my gas did. Penetrate the lungs before slowly killing the enemy. That's why no soldiers were in sight!

"Everyone! Retreat! Hurry! Run!" Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, but listened anyway and started running.

A few men started falling down.

I knew there was nothing to be done. They were already dead even if their hearts were still beating.

"It's poisonous gas! Don't look back and just keep running!" I kept running.

Mark.

Where was Mark?!

I turned around and let soldiers run past me. I couldn't see him.

"Mark!" I yelled but no one answered.

I looked around me, searching for red hair. I put on my gas mask to stay behind a bit longer. But I had breathed in the gas and so had my soldiers. I will need to make a lot of antidotes in very little time.

Someone tapped my shoulder and I turned around in one swift motion, expecting to see Mark. But I only saw Felix. "We need to move, Chief!"

"I have my gas mask, go ahead!" Felix nodded at me and started running.

I took a deep breath (which probably wasn't a very good idea) and started running back. And that's when I finally noticed Mark.

He was lifting two soldiers on his shoulder, but it was evident that he was struggling. He took two steps before falling down.

I cried out and ran to him.

No.

No.

No!

Mark slowly got up, coughing violently. I took off my gas mask as I reached him and put it on him. I helped him stay up.

I had had more exposure to the gas before (and also to worse gas than this), so my body was more resistant to it, thankfully.

Mark wasn't talking.

I could only hope that the gas hadn't severed his vocal cords too much.

Mark was basically putting all of his weight on me. I could feel how hard it was for him to go forward.

"Come on Mark. You'll be fine. You have to be." I kept going forward.

We were almost there.

But the gas was wearing me down.

I could feel my throat closing up. That wasn't good.

I tried going faster, but Mark was slowing me down. But there wasn't any way that I was letting him go.

My legs started acting up and I knew that I was inhaling too much gas. I didn't want to give up, but as my legs gave up under me, I knew that we were done for.

I didn't want to die like that. Without having seen peace. Not surrounded by my soldiers.

At least Mark was with me.

Mark?

I opened my eyes and noticed that Mark was gone.

Where was he?

Suddenly, someone pulled me up. I had too little energy to do anything.

Mark was saving me once again.

I closed my eyes and passed out as someone screamed my name.


	14. Chapter 14 :

I woke up with a start.

I looked around myself and noticed that I was in a car with my soldiers. I was still in Mark's arms. He had put the gas mask on me which had probably saved me.

"Ethan?" Mark said slowly and I took off the gas mask.

"I'm here." I whispered and sighed. At least I could still talk.

Mark was crying. I slowly moved my hand up and wiped the tears on his cheek. Mark smiled at me. I could see that the gas had taken its toll on him. He looked run down and his voice was hoarse. Just like mine, probably.

I sat up but stayed on Mark's lap. I looked around and noticed that almost all of the team leaders were here.

Almost.

"Peter, report." The green team's leader straightened up as I called them.

"Most of our troops made it out in time. Some team leaders chose to stay with their troops while we chose to stay with our Chief, Chief!" I smiled at them and at all the soldiers present in the car.

"To how much has the loss been estimated?" Peter frowned.

"We've counted fifty plus before leaving, but I'm not sure it's the right number considering how fast we left. And we don't know the effects of the gas yet. Soldiers could be dying as we're speaking. That's all Chief." I nodded at them.

"I know the gas. I created but discarded it because of its effectiveness and hard nature to contain. I know how to make an antidote." Or at last I think so.

My soldiers sighed in relief. I looked at Mark and he kissed my forehead.

I relaxed into him. That was nice.

I woke up to Mark gently shaking my shoulder. "We're here, blue." I rubbed my eyes but winced as it stung.

Right.

The gas.

I got up and stretched a bit. "Where's everyone?"

"I told them to regroup in the infirmary. Well, as well as they could anyway." I nodded and started walking to my tent to start working on an antidote. Mark was following me which was good.

"We counted everyone. We've lost 129 soldiers." I stopped walking at that and took a deep breath.

"I need to get working on that antidote or that number'll keep growing." Moping would get me nowhere.

I got under my tent and immediately started working. I got my material out and started searching for my blueprint of the gas.

"Is this it?" Mark asked slowly and I looked up to see him holding up the exact blueprint I was looking for.

"Yes. Thank you. Place it here please." I said while pointing at my work station.

Mark could help me.

"Do you have a good memory?" I asked quickly while studying the blue print.

Right. I remembered now.

"I'm a fast learner." Was Mark's answer. "Good enough."

I collected the chemicals I needed to make for the antidote and laid them out in front of me. "Ok. If you've got questions, ask them immediately and I'll try to answer. This stuff seems pretty logical to me so I'm not great at explaining." Mark nodded and I smiled at him.

"The gas hurts your throat and damages your esophagus which causes internal bleeding as well as suffocation. To undo this effect, we will need to trigger vomiting in the subject to relax the throat -yes that seems weird, but rust me. We will also need to patch up any sore throats as well as eyes. Nothing some honey and salted water can't do." Mark furrowed his eyebrows.

"Then what are all those for?" He said, looking at all the chemicals I had gotten out. "To make us all immune to it." I said while smiling at at Mark.

He was looking at me in awe again.

Damn him.

"What's my job then?"

"You could bring people in one at a time. But first let's cure ourselves. Then we'll start working on an antidote."

"God I love you." Mark whispered and I blushed.

Damn him.

I injected the antidote on the last of my soldier and sighed. Now we were done.

Thankfully, no one had died during my intervention. And that all thanks to Mark. I looked up at him and smiled tiredly.

Mark walked to me and kissed me on the side of my mouth. I smiled even more. "M'tired..." I mumbled while stretching out. Mark sat next to me and I rested my head on his shoulder.

"Chief?" A soldier asked me and I groaned. "Yes?" I said without looking up.

"The people are scared. You need to reassure them." I sighed.

"I know."

Mark kissed my hair. "I'll come with you?"

"You better."

I got up, shortly followed by Mark and started walking towards the public place. Halfway through our walk, Mark had taken my hand, single-handedly giving me the strength I needed to reassure my soldiers.

Everyone was talking to everyone.

But once I got on top of the stage (that we hadn't bothered moving), they all quieted down immediately; almost eerily so.

"Soldiers... No. Friends. Family even. Today was a hard day for us. Everyone has lost something. Let us grieve today and tomorrow." I marked a pause and closed my eyes for a second.

It was during times like these that being the Chief was the hardest.

"You will be welcomed to report to Nate or me the name of our fallen friends. They will not be forgotten. Let their death be a source of motivation for future fights. Just like when we lost out Chief and her partner. Let us grieve, but most importantly, let us fight." I felt it important to mention Chief and her partner since I hadn't had the opportunity to say some proper words about them.

"From now on, we will now all be wearing gas masks at our belts so that this can never happen again. Everyone that's helped me in my studies in the past is welcomed to join me to help build these gas masks. Just make sure your usual work is done by someone else. We can't let the camp go berserk just because we need to arm ourselves. This is war. And we'll win it."

I had expected everyone to cheer at that point but they were silent.

Suddenly, someone raised their fist in the air. They were soon followed by someone else and soon, everyone had their fist raised in the air.

I felt like crying.

This gesture meant everything.

I raised my fist in the air and tried to look at every single person in the crowd.

"Thank you." People nodded and lowered their fist.

I wiped a stray tear that had fallen from my eye and smiled as I felt Mark's arm around my waist.

That reminds me.

"On another note, it is due time that I take a second in command." People seemed to agree and even seemed eager to know to who I had given the honor of becoming my lieutenant.

"My new right arm will be Mark here." People seemed shocked. Some cries of protest even started ringing around the crowd.

But I silenced them with my hand.

"I know that not all of you trust Mark. I didn't either a few weeks ago. But since then, Mark's helped me and has been there for me just like a lieutenant would for their Chief. He also has risked his life multiple times to save me or other soldiers." I saw people nodding.

"I trust him. I love him. And I think that he will be a great right arm, if not a great Chief if something were to happen to me." Mark tightened his grip on my waist as if telling me not to speak like that. But I had to.

"To those still reluctant, please, at least try to get to know him. We all know how sudden our Chief's death was and that just because I'm the Chief doesn't mean that I'm immortal." Mark squeezed my waist again and, this time, I turned to look at him.

"I love you." He murmured to me and I smiled at him.

I turned back towards my soldiers.

"If I do end up giving my life during a battle, I don't want to go out knowing that my team will crumble simply because they don't trust their Chief."

Almost everyone was convinced by now. And I knew that those who weren't would give Mark a chance and try to get to know him first.

After all, everyone trusted my decisions since they were always good.

"Now. We will rest and grieve until tomorrow night. After that, the fight continues. My tent is still open to those willing to help me work or to those who wish to speak with me. Now let's sleep." I said, dismissing everyone.

Mark went in front of me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I lifted my head up to look at him since he was slightly taller than me.

He didn't have to speak, his eyes were already showing what he was thinking. I'm proud of you. I could almost hear him say it.

I got on my tiptoes and pecked his lips.

Thank you.


	15. Chapter 15 :

"So what did it mean exactly?" I put another finished gas mask in the box, on top of the others and stretched out my arms and back.

"It's the utmost form of respect you can give to someone. It means that you trust them, that you would die for them and that you respect them all at once." Mark hummed.

"Now I wish I'd done it too. Don't want you to believe I don't think all of those things, you know?" I smiled at Mark's light-hearted tone.

"Our old Chief only got it once and it was when a few soldiers had died because of a mistake she made. She had been willing to quit her place as a Chief. She had even wanted to die. And she asked her soldiers to choose what would happen to her by either raising their thumbs up or down. And someone raised their fist as in to say 'we want you to fight with us, not anything else'. I was on the stage too this day and I remembered crying profusely." Every soldier working with us had gotten quiet when I had started speaking.

"So to see everyone raise their fist for me this time was very... Beautiful."

"How do you do that?" I raised a brow at Mark.

"Do what?"

"That! Where you start talking and just know what to say so that everyone listens to you." I felt myself blush. "I don't know. I don't do it on purpose." Mark chuckled. "I know! That's what infuriating with you!" A couple of soldiers laughed at our banter. "Shut up." I chuckled and looked just in time to see Mark roll his eyes.

"I swear! They really use a ruler to measure your roots and if they're more than a centimeter long, they throw you in prison."

"Fucking crazy bastards they are."

"You tell me."

I turned around the corner and was pleasantly surprised to see Mark surrounded by soldiers who were listening to what seemed to be tales from when he was in the ACH.

I smiled and watched him talking a bit more before intervening. "Not working I see? I wonder how I'll punish all of you." I tried to stay serious but the scared look on the soldiers' faces made me laugh. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I'm glad you're getting to know Mark." Mark smiled at me.

"Do you want to sit down and listen to some of my stories? I swear at least some of them are fun." I chuckled but shook my head. "No thanks. I actually was searching for you. We need to talk about something." Mark frowned at that. "Nothing too bad I hope?"

"I do too. Now come please, you'll have loads of time later to tell some stories." Mark got up and started following me after having said bye to the soldiers.

"So, what's happening?" Mark said once we reached our tent.

I nodded at Nate and Mark finally noticed him. He wasn't a spy for nothing, his ability to make himself invisible was uncanny.

"Oh. Hey Nate." Nate nodded at him.

We sat down and I nodded at Nate again to get him talking.

"I was on a pathfinder mission as usual and I think I found an unlisted camp. It was on the South of the 31st base, down in the canyon. There seemed to be three tents. And it almost seemed like normal people were camping there if it hadn't been for the metal trapdoor badly hidden under one of the tents." I thanked Nate and turned to Mark.

"We were wondering if you might know something about this particular trap. Nate tried to open it but a code was needed." Mark hummed like he did when he was thinking hard about something.

"It might be an emergency exit of the Underground. You know, the maze of tunnels underground that can be used in case they need to escape quickly. The tunnels are so long and there are so many that I sadly don't know where they all go to." I nodded at Mark.

"There is a map for them that no one really uses considering how they don't think that they'll ever need to escape. It's kept under the 12th base west. I know since this is where my right arm man's office was. They've probably replaced him now." I raised a brow.

"Why would we need this map? I don't want to waste our soldiers' lives." Nate beat me to saying it, but I was thinking the exact same thing.

"The auto destruct commands are in one of the rooms."

"Wait. Why do these exist in the first place?" Mark shrugged. "In case of desperate measures so that their data doesn't get stolen. Pressing that button will trigger bombs under every camp as well as in the Underground itself. And no, before you ask, no soldier of the ACH is aware that their death is at a button's press."

"What fucking animals." Nate chuckled and Mark nodded.

"Ok. But... Will the person pressing the button have time to escape?" Mark stayed silent, but his silence in itself meant more than any word.

I looked at Nate and Mark.

One of us was going to die.

"Ethan. Ethan wake up." I slowly opened my eyes and blinked as Nate became less and less blurry.

"What...?" I groggily said and Nate shushed me. "Get up. We have to talk." I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and moved Mark's arm away from my chest before getting up.

I followed Nate outside of my tent all the while stretching my arms out. "What's up?" I mumbled out.

"I don't think there's a map. Or an Underground for all it matters." That woke me up immediately.

"Why's that?"

I knew that I could trust Nate -maybe even more than Mark- so I didn't question him on his motives. He had no reason to fuck over Mark.

"I went down the door. I managed to find the code with the machine you gave me. And I walked for a very long time (while marking which paths I had taken everytime with a chalk.) One corridor ended up in the middle of nowhere, another to sewers and the last one had a brick wall blocking off the tunnel. There was nothing there."

I wanted to argue with him, to tell him that maybe this end of the tunnels had been cut out or that maybe Mark had been fooled. But this would've been acting out on my feelings and so, I let Nate continue.

"So I went and investigated the 12th camp west."

"That was against my orders." Nate bowed his head. "I know. And I'm sorry. But I did it and I'm ok." I nodded.

Nate was allowed to go against orders if he deemed it necessary. I trusted his judgement.

"There was no trapdoor. There wasn't even anyone at the camp. I think that Mark is lying to us. Or at least that he has been fooled and used against us." I nodded, taking all of the information in.

"Ok. How about we test him?" Nate nodded, letting me go on.

"We will improvise an expedition to the 12th camp west tomorrow after you will tell Mark that you want to look at this trapdoor leading to the map -or even at the map itself, I trust you to find something to say. Don't let him compose his own team of soldiers, chose them yourself and inform them of what's going on. If he tries to make excuses, convince him, guilt trip him, anything. Just get him to come." I sighed.

"I have to tell you that I love Mark and that my judgement may be biased. I trust you to make the decisions on this mission, even though I'm still the one in command. Ok?" Nate nodded.

"Now let's sleep. Thank you for trusting me with this information Nate, I really appreciate it." I put my arm on Nate's shoulder. Nate saluted me and I rolled my eyes.

This boy was way too stuck up, he needed to relax once in a while.

I walked back in my tent and slipped under the covers with Mark.

I really hoped Nate was wrong.

Everything had been going according to plan. Mark hadn't been reluctant, quite the opposite actually. He had been eager to help.

For now, everything was going in his favor.

But we had to make sure. I had to make sure.

"Show us the way Mark." I told him and he nodded at me.

Almost automatically, Mark went to one tent and pushed it away.

"I searched here already, there's nothing there." Nate whispered to me and I motioned for him to wait.

Mark started digging with his hands and, after a while, reached with his whole arm into the sand.

"There it is!" Mark exclaimed as he pulled back his arm.

A deafening cranking sound resonated around us and the ground started shaking. I instinctively put my hands on my ears but soon got used to the sound.

Mark took a few step back towards us and motioned for us to do the same.

Two walls raised up from the ground and the ground itself started opening up, the walls pushing the tent and the sand altogether.

I was amazed. Nate was gobsmacked. Mark seemed nervous.

The cranking and grinding sound stopped as along with the walls' movement.

"The trap door's down there." Mark stated after a while.

I snapped out of my dazed state and stared at Mark.

I went to him and hugged him.

"Wha-?" "I love you."

I pulled away before Mark could notice how hard I was shaking.

"We'll come back." I announced to our group.

"Can we close the gate?" Mark nodded and went back to the lever he had pulled.

He stuck his arm in the sand before twisting it. The cranking and grinding started again as the walls closed down and retracted into the ground.

Mark grabbed a nearby tent and put it on top of where the lever was.

I turned to look back at Nate and he nodded at me.

We would never tell Mark what had really been going on today.

A/N :

Aren't you all wondering where Jack is? Or if Mark might secretly be evil? Hmm

Also, the next chapter should be the last. Have fun with interpreting that information however you want!


	16. Chapter 16

"Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"I want to have sex with you." Mark chuckled.

"How romantic of you. Take me to dinner first, yeah?"

"War and chill." I dead-panned and Mark burst out laughing.

I chuckled a bit and got on top of Mark, probably crushing him in the process. Who cares? Not me.

"Ethan..." Mark whined. "What..." I whined back.

"We're too sleepy to have sex." Mark stated and I shrugged. "We'll wake up halfway through." Mark chuckled. "Don't believe me?" Mark shrugged.

I propped myself up on top of him and started grinding down on him. Mark half-moaned, half-groaned.

"Ethan..." Mark whined again.

I moved down and tugged down his boxer before wrapping my hand around his dick and starting to jerk him off. Mark groaned and I knew I had won.

I took off my shirt and Mark's hands were on me in a second.

"Now I want to suck you off..." Mark said with a fake pout and I chuckled.

"Why not?" I said and Mark stopped laughing.

"Wait, seriously?" I shrugged.

"I trust you." Mark bit his lip.

"Fuck that's... That's hot..." I blushed. I laid down with Mark on top of me, his dick grazing my stomach.

"Are you sure about this?" I nodded, my heart beating rapidly in my chest.

Mark slowly took down my pajama pants and stared at my briefs for a while. Did he not want to anymore?

"You're not even hard?" I blushed.

Oh. Right.

I guess it was now or never.

"No but I'm wet." Mark looked up at me in shock.

"Oh you're- Oh. I mean wow. Oh. Wow." I suddenly felt very embarrassed.

"Does it bother you? I don't really like talking about it so I usually let people believe I have a dick." I stopped myself before I started rambling. Mark still wasn't talking.

"Mark?"

"No I just... I have to switch our positions in my fantasies now." Mark and I both blushed and I chuckled with happiness.

"I love you." "I love you too."

"I can't believe a rubber dick feels this good." I chuckled.

My hand was lazily tracing patterns on Mark's stomach.

"I can't believe I let you finger me."

"I can't believe it either." I kissed Mark's shoulder.

We were both naked and cuddling, had been for a few hours. Well, not the cuddling part.

"Thank you for trusting me Ethan. You're such a great significant other." I smiled against Mark's shoulder.

 _He remembered_.

We stayed silent for a while, just enjoying each other.

"Tomorrow's the day huh." Mark sighed. "I guess." I looked up at him and met his eyes.

"You scared?" I asked him and kissed his beard. "A bit. I'm more scared of losing you than anything." I nodded.

"Same." I sighed.

"You do know that someone will obviously die to press that button." Mark nodded.

"I want to do it." I shook my head. "As the Chief, I should do it." Mark groaned. "As if I'll let you do that."

"I'm the Chief and you will obey me." Mark sighed. "I wish someone else could do it." I chuckled, but there was no humor behind it.

"You know that that's not possible. I can't ask anyone to do this. It has to be me." We stayed silent.

"I don't want you to die..." Mark said and it sounded like he was crying. I looked up and sure enough, tears were falling from his eyes.

"I'm sorry." I whispered and Mark shrugged. "It's not like you could do anything else. You're acting right. As always."

"I always take good decisions." I said and Mark lightly punched my arm.

"God I love you." I kissed his cheek, the salty flavor of his tears invading my mouth.

"I love you too. And that's a good decision." He slapped my arm again.

The noise stopped once again and we were left gazing at the hole in front of us. "There's a ladder here and there. I should go first to type in the code." I nodded at him. "Should I take my team with me?"

"Uhm... Andrew's back from the infirmary. He's the red team leader again." Mark looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "Oh shit oops." I shrugged.

"Nate, Felix. Go with him and make sure everything's safe." They nodded and started climbing down.

"Ok, you can come down!" Mark yelled after a while.

I let the team captain command their team to either go down or stay back as support.

I started climbing down as well and soon I was on the ground next to Mark, Nate, Felix, the blue team, Andrew and the red team.

I focused on Mark and noticed that he (as well as everyone, probably) was awaiting my orders.

"Let's do this. Mark, you lead. Nate, you go last." They both nodded and Mark opened the trap door with Felix's help. It felt more like a hatch door than a trap door honestly.

"Do you know if there are any guards there?" I asked Mark once we were all down the tunnel. He shrugged. "I don't really know." Nate sighed. "What he's trying to say is : will we have to fight?"

"Oh. There's a high chance, yes. But if we're careful -and quiet, it might be ok." I nodded.

"Let's get going then. Everyone, keep your hand on your gun." Mark started walking and everyone -including me- followed him. Nate was closing the march like I had asked him to. Felix and his team, as well as Andrew and his own team, were somewhere in between Mark and Nate.

Everything was going well. For now.

"The map should be on a shelf next to a door labelled 'Utility 304'." I raised a brow.

Why had he stopped just to tell us that?

"Let's go then." Felix said and I stared at Mark. He was playing with his sleeves which meant that he was nervous.

Suddenly, I understood why we had stopped here. At an intersection. In front of three corridors. "You forgot the way didn't you?" Mark nodded and shamefully lowered his head.

"What's happening?" Nate -who had joined us after we'd stopped- said.

"Mark's forgotten the way forward." I said and he groaned.

I knew that Nate wasn't exactly fond of Mark, but still. I shot him a look.

"One of these is a dead-end, another one the way to go and the last one well... You won't come back." Mark said slowly.

"I volunteer." Nate said and I opened my mouth to talk him out of it but he stopped me.

"We can't have you die right now." _Especially when Mark's just fucked up._

He didn't have to say it, but I knew that that was what he meant.

I nodded at him and he nodded back.

"Don't go right." Mark said and Nate lifted a brow. "I think right is the wrong one." Nate nodded.

He took a few steps forward. His eyes were going back and forth between the left corridor and the one in front of us.

Nate looked back at me and then at Mark and shrugged. He then took off running in the left corridor. I was holding my breath.

"We should sit down." Mark said after a while. I sat down and Mark sat next to me, placing his hand on my knee.

"I'm sorry that I forgot." I shrugged. "It happens." Everyone was silent.

"How long has it been?" I asked Felix after a while. "An hour. Almost." I quietly thanked him.

"These corridors take 30 minutes to cross. An hour back and forth. If he isn't back soon then..." I closed my eyes and Mark stopped talking.

I had been so stupid... Why had I let Nate go? I should have gone myself. I can't lose Nate...

Maybe I should've made him my second in command?

I snapped out of my thoughts and stood up straight as I heard footsteps. Nate or an enemy? I put a hand on my gun just in case.

But soon, Nate emerged from the shadows. He smiled as he saw me. I smiled back.

He walked to me and I couldn't help but hug him. "I thought I had lost you." Nate chuckled.

"Watch out, Mark's gonna get jealous." I chuckled at him and pulled away from out hug.

I shot a look at Mark and saw that he was glaring at Nate.

Was he really jealous at him?

I walked to him and slapped him on the back of the head. "Dummy! It's you I love." I jokingly told him and he blushed. "Sorry."

"Now. Nate. I assume that that's the right way." Nate nodded and smirked. "Utility 304. Just as Mark said."

"Let's go then." I started walking ahead and everyone followed me.

I felt scared. I didn't want any of my soldiers to die, but I knew that it was unavoidable. Unfortunately so.

Mark reached for my hand and gently intertwined my fingers with his. I smiled.

Thank God for him.

Mark started rummaging through the box and soon pulled out an old piece of paper that looked like it hadn't moved in years. He blew on it and a ton of dust got thrown into the room, making some of us sneeze -me included.

"This is it." Mark said while getting back up. "See, this is where we are. And _this_ is where we need to go." Mark said, pointing at the map.

"That looks far away." Nate, who was looking at the map over my shoulder, said. Mark shrugged. "It is. We should stay underground as not to get detected. The hole in which we climbed through has been abandoned, but not all of them are like that. Plus, I actually knew the code to this one, not the others." I nodded.

"Lead the way." Mark looked up and chuckled. "Give me a hand then." I looked up and sighed rather than chuckled as I stared at the trapdoor leading up that was on the ceiling.

"I thought you said that we needed to stay down." Andrew said and hearing his voice surprised me. I sort of had forgotten that he was there considering how quiet he had been.

I handed him the map and showed him that we were three floors down while the room we were searching for was two floors down. Andrew nodded and handed me the map back. I folded it before putting it in my pocket and zipping the pocket shut.

"Now, Andrew, help me prop Mark up, please." We both knelt down and gave Mark a leg up. He managed to open the trapdoor and climb up. He then reached down with his hand to help the next person come up.

Slowly but surely, every soldier but Andrew and I had climbed up.

"Go first." I told Andrew and he jumped up (with my help) and climbed up (with Mark and Nate's help). I got back up and jumped. Mark and Nate both grabbed my arm and pulled me up.

"Thanks." I told Mark and he kissed my cheek. I then turned to thank Nate but he had already left. I raised a brow.

 _We will need to talk about this later_.

I frowned. I guess there wouldn't be a later considering I was about to die pressing that button. Huh.

It really was funny how _not_ scared I was. I guess I was ready to die if it meant getting us closer to this war's end.

I shook my head and noticed that everyone was looking at me.

"Huh?"

"I asked if you were ready." Mark said.

"Yeah. Yes. Of course. Let's go." We started walking and everyone was silent. Which I preferred since I could actually _think_ when there was no sound.

"I should talk to Nate." I mumbled to myself and ignored the questioning look Mark shot me.

"Keep going." I told him and started walking towards the back of our formation without waiting for his answer.

I reached Nate and smiled at him. He seemed surprised to see me. And I could understand. "Everything ok?"

"With the mission? Yeah. With us? I don't know. Can we talk about what happened back there?" Nate seemed to know what I was talking about since he sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

Nate had brown hair, but he had always been awesome. And he seemed to know a lot about colored hair people which was nice.

He had never talked to anyone about his reason for joining us, the rebellion, but me. But he was drunk and didn't remember telling me and so, I never mentioned how I knew that his fiancé had died because of his colored hair.

I stared at his hair before turning my head away.

 _Why did I want to run my hand through his hair?_

I shook my head. I shouldn't think about this right now.

"Why did you leave so quickly? I didn't get to thank you. You've gotta stop this little 'feud' you have going on with Mark. You could make a terrific lieutenant. And I don't want you to lose this opportunity because Mark doesn't like you."

"You should have chosen me, then." Nate almost spat out.

I glared at him. "Stop being so fucking childish Nate. I thought you were better than this and had understood why I chose Mark." Nate sighed. "Sorry... Yeah, I know. Because if you hadn't, he would've been excluded and he's too good of a soldier/ally to exclude." I nodded. "And you love him..." He almost sounded... sad?

"Do you think that I acted badly because of my feelings for him?"

"No, I think you did great. As usual. I'm just being childish." Nate was looking down.

I turned to him and hugged him. He was dazed for a second but then he wrapped his arms around me and held on to me as if his life depended on it.  
His hugs were nice.

"Don't beat yourself too hard about it. You're doing great and I'm proud of you. You've just got a lot on your shoulders. Just... Try with Mark, ok?" Nate nodded in my shoulder and I smiled.

"I'm glad to have you in my ranks, soldier." Nate pulled away from our hug and saluted me. He seemed to have been crying but I ignored it. I nodded at him and he smiled.

I turned around and started walking back to the front, back to Mark. I was glad that everything was better with Nate. Nate was one of my best soldiers and I didn't want him feeling down.

"Nate?" Mark asked when I got back and I nodded. "Nate." Mark looked angry. I rolled my eyes.

"You've gotta stop that. Nate is a great soldier and when I die, you will need to work with him." Mark flinched and I didn't know if it was because of my words or my tone.

"Sorry, blue." I smiled at him. "I love you red, never forget that."

"I won't."

"Red team! Start shooting!" Andrew shouted and I continued running.

We had been detected when one of us had stepped on a trap which in turn had made an alarm go off.

We were currently fighting off a few dozen soldiers. We were winning, but there was bound to be more soldiers coming soon.

"Blue team! Throw your C grenades!" Felix shouted and everyone put on their gras masks -me included.

I continued running, now surrounded by the fumes of the grenades. There were a few soldiers who had gas masks in the back, I had seen them.

I reached the first soldier and shot him in the head in one swift motion. I did the same with the others and soon, we were alone.

But the alarm was still blasting off the walls.

I pressed a button on my gas mask and all the gas from the grenades got sucked back in them.

 _God_ , these were my favorites.

I took my gas mask off. "Let's keep moving before more of them keep coming!"

As soon as everyone had picked up a grenade, we started running again. "The room should be on the right. But it must be guarded." Mark yelled over the alarm. I nodded at him.

"Red team, draw your guns!" Andrew yelled and I couldn't help but think it was a bit early. "No. First, blue team get your grenades. We don't kill when it can be avoided " I yelled while staring at Andrew.

He weirdly seemed tired. He nodded at me and his soldiers put their guns back in their holsters.

We turned the corner and, immediately, the blue team threw their grenades. Those were electrified grenades.

Felix pressed the button to trigger them and the soldiers dropped down before they could even shoot. Our efficiency gave me chills.

We got to the door once the grenades had stopped firing out electricity. "Do you have the code?" I asked Mark and he shrugged. "If they didn't change it, yeah." He typed in a code and, weirdly enough, it opened.

We immediately moved out of the way as it opened. Just as planned, enemies started firing from beyond the door.

I grabbed one of my grenades, unpinned it and threw it in the room. It exploded on impact and dispersed a gas that made the soldiers sleep.

However, the shooting didn't stop. "They have gas masks!" Mark shouted and I nodded.

"Let me do it." Nate said and I shot him a look. "Trust me." He said while looking at me.

"I do. Just don't get yourself killed." Nate nodded and grabbed his guns.

Nate was an expert shooter as well as being a spy. He put on his gas mask and ran into the room. The gas was about to fade out and I honestly trusted Nate, but I didn't know how he even _could_ do this.

After a while, the shooting stopped and the gas dissipated. Nate stepped out of the room and took off his gas mask.

He looked fucking badass.

"Ok. Felix, Andrew, keep your teams out here and defend us in case anyone comes. Don't kill anyone that doesn't need to be killed." They both nodded and I walked into the room with Nate and Mark.

I turned to Mark. "Show me how to blow everything up."

"I won't let you die." Nate said and I rolled my eyes.

"You don't have a choice there Nathan. Sorry. Nate." Nate flinched at the name and I immediately felt bad.

However, he didn't question how I knew his real name. Maybe he did remember telling me about his past?

Mark walked to a panel and typed in a few words. I looked at Nate and he nodded at me. At least he was okay.

"Ok. So. You'll need to press this key-" He said, handing me a paper with letters and numbers scribbled on it. "-and then press send. This will detonate the bombs in every camp." I put the paper on a table next to the panel as to not lose it.

"To destroy the Underground, you'll simply need to press that big green button. Just break the glass and punch it two times. Exactly two times."

"I thought it'd be redder." Mark didn't even answer at my try of a joke.

"To shut down the door, you just have to type in lock_door, everything here is operated by computer."

"Won't people be able to type in a code to open it?" Mark shook his head. "Typing that in the computer will permanently close the door." I nodded.

"I guess this is goodbye." Nate started tearing up and Mark was already crying. "I don't want you to die..."

I went to Mark and kissed him. "I know you'll do great without me. I trust you. And you have Nate to help you."

"But it's you I want..." I shot him a sad smile.

"I love you red. Never forget that." Mark nodded, unable to answer because of his sobs. I kissed him again.

I turned to Nate and smiled at him with the same sadness. He was trying to act brave but he was still crying. But goddamn it, crying was brave too.

He saluted me. "Chief!" I rolled my eyes.

"Come here." I grabbed him by the shoulders and hugged him tightly. He was full-on sobbing.

"I know you'll do fine too. You'll be there for little Marky won't you?" Nate nodded in my chest and pulled away.

I took a few steps back and stared at the both of them. "Keep each other strong. I trust you both to be ok."

Nate raised his fist in the air. Mark did the same. I did too.

All three of us were crying.

"You should say goodbye to your soldiers."

"I should but... I don't want to. It'll be too much..."

"We're here for you." I smiled at Mark.

We all walked to the door and I wiped my eyes.

"Goodbye." I told everyone. My soldiers stared at me with a raised eyebrow, probably not understanding the weight behind my words.

I went to press the button to close the door but someone grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me out of the room and closed the door themselves. I looked around myself, scared that Mark or Nate had taken my place but they were still there.

"Andrew...?" Nate mumbled and I widened my eyes. What the fuck was he doing!

"Mark. The door." I tried to stay calm but I was fuming. Mark must've felt it because he went to the door immediately.

"It's no use Chief. I've locked it." Andrew said through the door. I immediately pressed myself against it to hear him clearer.

"I heard everything you said in there. I know how to make everything blow up."

"Andrew don't be stupid ope-" "No. Chief. I... I'm not a good team leader. It's been proven multiple times. Mark will be better than me."

"The code's not working!" Mark yelled but I barely heard him. I was concentrating on Andrew.

"It doesn't mean that I want you dead..."

"I know. And that's what makes you such a great Chief. A great Chief that needs to live on. Go now. I'll blow everything up in three hours from now. That should give you enough time to escape." I closed my eyes and sighed.

God Andrew... Why did you have to be like that?

"Your memory will be honored, soldier Andrew."

"Yes, Chief. Thank you. And live long, Ethan." I nodded even though he couldn't see me. "Thank you Andrew." I backed up from the door.

"Let's go." Mark turned his attention from the dial -he was still trying to punch in the code- to me and stared at me wide-eyed. "We can't leave him here!"

"Let's go." I repeated with the same tone. Mark grabbed my shoulders. "He'll die in there!"

"You think I don't know that!" I snapped at him. Mark saw the tears in my eyes and softened his eyes.

"Let's go... Please." I almost whispered and Mark nodded. "Let's."

The way back had been eerily quiet. Everyone knew what was happening.

Mark had taken my hand once he had realized that, because of Andrew's sacrifice, I hadn't died when I was very much supposed to. I guess even _I_ hadn't realized it yet.

I climbed out of the trapdoor we had first dropped through. Seeing all the teams and their team leaders was reassuring.

But there was no time to stall.

"We need to move! Our mission is a success. Everything will blow up in less than an hour, we need to move! Mark, you are now the new leader of the red team! Everyone let's go!" We ran to our trucks and started moving. I made sure everyone was inside a vehicle before climbing in one myself.

"We have less than 30 minutes." Felix announced and I nodded.

"We'll make it. We just have to avoid any camps since those will blow up first." Everyone nodded.

We kept driving away to our base.

Thirty minutes later, we heard explosions and the ground shook beneath the car's wheels.

Another, louder explosion resonated and I silently thanked Andrew. Most of the sand dunes had collapsed. The landscape felt weird and new.

Maybe it was the sign of the beginning of something new?

"It's done now." Mark put his arm around my shoulder. I rested my head on his shoulder.

"All thanks to Andrew. Now we have a chance to beat the enemy for good."

We slowed down once we neared our camp and I could only stare at what was happening in front of us. Everyone was fighting.

And I couldn't tell whether or not we were winning.

I snapped out of my daze.

"Let's go! Everyone with their team! Kill on sight!" I had never ordered my soldiers to do that, but now we had no choice.

I took out my gun and started shooting left and right, trying to ignore the many bodies on the ground. How vile do you have to be to attack unarmed civilians?

"Chief! Here!" Someone yelled and I noticed Cry waving at me. He threw me another gun and I thanked him.

With all of our teams, we quickly outnumbered the enemy.

I shot a guy and looked around myself. Everyone was helping everyone.

Some had even started gathering the bodies. At least we were organized.

No enemies seemed alive anymore. But I couldn't see Mark either.

"Mark! Where is Mark!"

"Right here Ethan!" I turned around and grinned at him.

He grinned back but quickly lost his smile. "Ethan behind you!" Mark screamed and started running to me.

I immediately turned around and shot the guy before he could even shoot me. I turned back to Mark and smirked.

"See, I-" I fell on my knees and Mark barely had the time to catch me.

What was happening?

"Oh God Ethan fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! Fuck! We need a doctor!" Why did we need a doctor?

Why did my chest feel wet? I looked down at myself.

There was a red stain growing and growing on my shirt. I've been shot?

"Ethan... We need a doctor for our Chief! Please! Someone?!" I fell backwards and Mark caught me.

"Does someone know how to treat bullet wounds?!"

"Mark. Look at me." I knew I was losing too much blood. I already couldn't feel my legs.

I was calm for some reason.

"Mark." I grabbed his face and turned his head so that he was looking at me.

"It's too late."

"No!"

"Listen to me. Mark." I guess I really was supposed to die today. Mark wasn't speaking but his lips were forming the word 'no' again and again.

"You will be a great Chief. I know it. Take Nate as your lieutenant ok? He's smart and he'll know how to help you. I know you don't like each other, but you'll grow out of it." It was becoming harder and harder to talk by the second.

"Stop talking. You'll live." Mark had his hands pressing down on my wound to stop the blood from flowing but it wasn't working. Now his hands were covered in blood.

I couldn't even feel the pressure.

"I love you red... Do _not_ forget it." I whispered to him.

"I love you too blue. But now's not the time. You won't die. You won't." I closed my eyes and had trouble opening them but eventually did.

Mark was bawling his eyes out. Some of his tears were falling on my face but I didn't have the strength necessary to wipe them away from his eyes.

Is this what our Chief had felt like before dying?

"S'okay if you find someone. Maybe even Nate." I wanted to chuckle but couldn't.

I could feel myself falling in and out of consciousness. And maybe there was a bit more out than in. "Stop talking... Please..."

"Can you kiss me?" I felt like a scared child.

Mark reached down and gently kissed me. I barely had any energy to kiss back but I did.

I even managed to reach up and stroke his hair. His beautiful fire-y hair that was the same color as my blood.

"You'll have to do it yourself now." I wamted to chuckle but couldn't.

I felt scared. But I couldn't show it. I needed to be strong for Mark.

Mark half-chuckled half-sobbed.

"I don't want you to go..." I smiled at him.

I noticed that some of my soldiers were here. My vision was blurry so I couldn't quite make out who exactly was there.

I could see Nate. I stared at him for a bit.

"Honor Andrew." I couldn't see if anyone had heard me. I hope they had.

"You did great." I told no one in particular.

My eyelids were so heavy. So very heavy.

Why were they so heavy? I gave in and closed them.

I barely heard Mark scream.

I didn't feel it when he lifted me up and carried me in his arms as he walked through the crowd. I didn't hear everyone's cries nor see their tears either.

I only felt myself drifting away to sleep.

I just hoped my dreams would be filled with Mark.

 **A/N :**

 **The end. Stay tuned for the sequel : Red.**


	17. Sequel!

Hey, so how's it going? I'm just posting this to let you know that the sequel for this story is officially out. It's simply called "Red (Colors Sequel)".

Have fun reading!

(Also if you want to ask some questions here, I'd be more than willing to answer them)


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